Too often we get busy in our daily routines that we forget that all around us are a myriad of stories - a myriad of feelings, and circumstances. This video shows the importance of basic human relations -- look around you; feel, reflect, and offer support when you can. Turn the "daily routine" into an opportunity for constant reflection --
Have a reflective day...

Excellent!! I'm a retired nurse with a career primarily in Oncology and Hospice. I learned that patients aren't just a room #, or a diagnosis. What energy do we bring to the patients? Their families? Each other in the healing arts? I wrote a book, Transitions: A Nurse's Education about Life and Death. I share some of my patients' stories.
Your video should be in all orientation classes for all hospital employees!!
Bless you!! Becki

EXACTLY what I've been thinking during the last two years, dealing with my husband's illness. We've spent a LOT of time in doctor's offices and hospitals and often the strongest connections were felt with the orderlies moving patients or the folks who came in to clean the rooms. So many times I've wondered why some doctors and nurses went into medicine since they don't seem to like people much at all and really just don't want to be bothered with questions or emotions. It takes no more effort to smile than to frown or to be friendly rather than cold. Medical profession: NOBODY wants to be sick and every person you encounter is going through some difficulty. Please stop seeing them as just one more headache in your day and start treating them like you would if they were your mother or father, wife or husband, brother or sister, son or daughter. Because they are just that important to someone else.

We need to remember the same is true for our medical providers though - that they each have a story and occasional bad days too.

Consider what it must be like to have the knowledge and experience of a caregiver and the obligation to deliver very unpleasant news in an honest and caring fashion. What training and support do caregivers receive to live up to the expectations you ask? The emotional burden carried by these human beings is enormous. We identify deeply with family and struggle with how best to transmit a message and deal with all the circumstances that arise. And we will always miss the mark. So often the caregiver must find ways to protect themselves so that they may perform a greater good in an ultimate story of loss. We are all doing our very best AND we are fallible human beings, the afflicted and caregivers alike. Stories are very complicated everywhere we turn. How do we practice forgiveness and kindness as we learn deeper empathy?

May I suggest a further resource to learn more about empathy and compassion, The Center for Building a Culture of Empathy
The Culture of Empathy website is the largest internet portal for resources and information about the values of empathy and compassion. It contains articles, conferences, definitions, experts, history, interviews, videos, science and much more about empathy and compassion.
http://CultureOfEmpathy.com

I cannot watch this without crying. Thank you so much for making this video. I firmly believe that the key to a better world is to increase our awareness and our empathy. The quiet simplicity of this beautiful video speaks volumes. There is so much healing in the stress reducing effects of the human touch, a friendly word or a heartwarming embrace. To be seen, heard, understood and accepted. And to feel safe.
The holistic view of The Cleveland Cllinic sets a fabulous example for all hospitals around the world.

I am a health care provider. What really spoke to me was that the videographer treated the staff as people as well as the patients. EVERYONE at the hospital has a life and a story. Somethimes its not that the staff is cold and uncaring its that we are protecting ourselves from caring too much for too long. Compassion fatigue is a real thing.

You are so right Maureen. I was in the health care field for almost 20 years. When I first began my job there, I would go home feeling emotionally exhausted. This plagued me for months. I learned to sheild my emotions from all of it. Had I not, I would never had survived the job. Emotionally. Most providers do not mean to come across as uncaring or unfeeling. It's self-defense of the heart. I wish you well.

Thank you. I am going through a difficult time with a person at work and needed this beautiful, poignant reminder that we may never know what is really happening in another's life, what unspeakable challenges they face. I try to visit this site weekly and have shared it with others. It's a favorite blog I listen to while walking. Your interviews, videos and musical interludes are illuminating. Heartfelt thanks to everyone on the On Being staff, and keep up the good work!

Thank you for this. Last night, I sat with a family whose baby boy is dying. His first birthday is in a couple weeks and it is doubtful that he will still be alive to celebrate it. I am a volunteer who's learning how to listen to those unspoken thoughts. Hearing them doesn't change anything, but does make a lot of difference to the one who is being heard and to me when I'm lisstening. Presence and compassion make listening possible. Watching your video this morning, I felt my thoughts were being heard and my feelings felt.

Reflection: This story happens every day, and each person has a "back story" and cicumstances that orients his daily life. We share these stories with alll human beings. No person is an island, and no one can stand alone. Alike or un-alike, we are all connected. To acknowledge this is to initiate the healing process (brokenness) within us, between us, and among us.

The Cleveland Clinic saved our 5 year old daughter's life when her pediatrician heard "something odd" while listening to her heart during her pre-kindergarten well child check up. She had no symptoms, but because Dr. Deb Lonzer picked up this oddity, our 5 year old had life saving open heart surgery 3 weeks later. We now have every reason to expect our daughter to have a long and healthy life. We thank everyone on the staff at the Cleveland Clinic every day for saving our child. Her care was superb!

Abbott NW in Minneapolis has some new architecture to cope with this, but it is still very "old building with lots of wings" maze. The attached Children's hospital is very much a well made entity similar to Cleveland, until you cross over into the Abbott side. They never had the time to rethink the entire hospital, because of the caseload. Maybe some day they'll redo it, but I think they tend to reinvest in patient care rather than architecture. Is this an accident of history or the result of conscious decision-making?

I was taken in by this video until I saw where it was filmed. Since 1961, I've been a patient at the Cleveland Clinic. Throughout 50 years of my life, I've had first-hand experience with the decline of quality patient care. More resources must be allocated toward patient care otherwise, this video is at best a well-produced ad campaign. There is no doubt that the CCF does amazing work to improve peoples' lives but much more could be done if the CCF decision makers would stand in the shoes of their patients.

How incredibly brave of you to use the patients' emotionality! Out of necessity, health care providers focus on patients' physical well-being and when they have time....or IF they have the luxury of time..... they can explore that aspect. And yet, we all know the important part emotions play in recovery.

A wonderful, insightful video. 30 years ago, my doctoral dissertation topic was one of the first long-range studies in the USA...teaching medical students empathic interviewing skills...The topic was always there in the back of my mind and in 2010, empathic education emerged: http://www.empathiceducation.com

as a chaplain I found this so critical to how people should be treated. As a patientt now, I have experienced how people are treated like numbers. There are two great movies I think al hospital should watvh: "Wit" & "The Doctor.

Yes the physical spaces we live, work, and function in have profound impact on our outcomes.
Yes the attitudes and behavior of those around us profoundly impact our total health, physical, mental, and spiritual.
Not only must we accept this, we might as well celebrate it.

Wonderful post and video! Thank you for reminding us to always consider the other's perspective.

We’re working to enhance compassion and healing in healthcare, and created the International Charter for Human Values in Healthcare, starting with the capacity for compassion. The mission of the International Charter for Human Values in Healthcare is to restore the human dimensions of care – the universal core values that should be present in every healthcare interaction – to healthcare around the world. http://charterforhealthcarevalues.org

I'm a Rn in a big hospital,struggling with a HEAVY work load and not documenting alot til after my shift is over. I been told it's my time management, but watching this brought on the water falls. I take pride in listening to their stories and treat them like family. Thank you for this video. I may not be the prefect nurse for upper management but I been told by my patients im on the top of their list so it's good enough for me.

I'm a medical student doing my clinical rotations right now. Just yesterday, I found myself remarking to a colleague what a crazy place a hospital is. If you take what is going on in each of the 100s of rooms - people being healed or terminally diagnosed, families gathering or abandoning, people literally going crazy (I'm on psychiatry right now), resident physicians and nurses working through 12 and even 24 hour shifts... it's really incredible, like it's only little microcosm. This video captures that beautifully.

This reminds me of Paul Gruchow's new book, "Letters to a Young Madman." In it, he talks about the inhumanity and judgmentalism with which people with mental illness are treated, and how it makes them worse rather than better. Part of this inhumanity is the physcial environment inside mental hospitals. You really ought to interview the woman who published his book (since Paul died in 2004).

This video reminds me of why I went into nursing, to help ease others pain and celebrate their joy. Caregivers that can spend some time at the bedside can really get to know the patient and their families. Heath care has changed so much with equipment, computers and procedures, the patient can get lost under all the technology. Thank you for showing us that everyone has a story with many feelings attached we just need to take a moment and try to uncover them.

Empathy for everyone except physicians. How predictable. The doctors pictured all had nice news. How about, after "Coming to the end of a 12-hour shift," just as the camera catches the resident with the stethoscope to that nurse's left, putting something like, "Coming to the end of a 24-hour call?" I know it seems petty but I'm a little offended that the only thing doctors in this video are going through are impending fatherhood and beating cancer.

You never know what the person you meet in a hospital, on the street, or wherever you happen to be may be going through. Sometimes a genuine smile can go a long way to ease another's pain. It doesn't matter if it's reciprocated and it doesn't cost a thing. Beautifully done!!

This was a wonderful tear wrenching description of how we relate to our patients, and personal issues in our everyday lives, not only professionally, but personally. I have to admit that this brought tears to my eyes as it awakened many feelings both personally and professionally as I said previously. I believe that all our caregivers can relate to this in all aspects.

It is, as the proverbial story goes, "one step at a time", one person at a time. Yet too many are not that deliberate; not that strong; not that internally, intellectually, and emotionally assured that kindness, compassion, goodness & caring will indeed ever make a difference. What a different WORLD we would inhabit if such simple, basic actions and attitudes could create TRUE human connection, among every single living soul, equally & without one iota of envy, superiority, disdain, suspicion, and malice.

I recently lost my wife to Pancratic Cancer. I feel things now and I see things now in other people that I never noticed before. If I know then what I know now would I have acted differently toward others? Definately!

This video is amazing! I will be doing an intensive unit of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) this summer at a hospital up here in Maine, training for the ministry and for chaplaincy. This video makes me aware of all I am called to do, inspires me to reach beyond anything I have done until now, and to pray for the strength and awareness and sensitivity to do the work! Thank you for this video!

As a nurse for over 40 years, I loved this video and was moved to tears. This is something all of us need to watch over and over again. It is easy to become jaded in our profession, we see so much. We all need to be reminded that while we may have seen this a million times, our patients and families and co-workers are experiencing this for the first time.

An amazing video. My mother, Professor Roselyn Lindheim (UC Berkeley) was involved in human-centered design decades ago before her death in 1987. She was the architect for the original Stanford Children's Hospital and the Planetree unti at Presbytarian Hospital in SF - both very "human-centered". Many of her writings speak to this. She would have loved this video. Thank you.

Personally I think this video is something all employees should see, either when they become new employees as part of their orientation and every year, as part of our online annual compliance assesments. This would really help keep everyone in concensus with patient care and it is also a great tool for teamwork.

Wow very powerful. Reminds me why I got into nursing and how I have always tried to practice. Everyone has crosses to bear but helping each other lightens the load for all. God bless all the people suffering tonight and all the family/caregivers that are their support.

This is so touching. Reminds me of the beginning of the moving Love Actually with people at the arrivals gate at an airport. Here's a link... http://www.onbeing.org/blog/an-empathy-video-that-asks-you-to-stand-in-someone-elses-shoes/5063

One cannot adequately use words to describe the wonder of the video---one can only suggest to others that they view it to develop their own feelings. And as for me, to say that I was totally inspired by feelings given rise by the video would be an understatement

This makes total sense to me having juts been alongside my mother in a recent hospital experience which has terrified her and has impacted on how she now feels even in her own home. Love the bit about being in the same space from admission to discharge- yes , yes, yes.!

Thanks for sharing this very inspiring video; a wonderful reminder to enter into the world of our brothers and sisters that we so often walk by on the street every day, yet because of distraction, forgeting them. This video promotes a way of thinking/feeling about others that is akin to Jesus' "Love your neighbor as yourself." Watching this is a good shot in the arm for us Orthodox Christians who are midway through Lent, striving to implement the directive to love our brother/sister, and not judge him/her, as we pray daily in this most central and important prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian:

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust for power and idle talk.

A very moving, thoughtful reminder to all viewers to make us understand that we never know what's going on for others as we walk passed each other or catch each other's eyes for a mindless moment. But now thanks to this filmed social comment, maybe we'll smile more readily. Or when we interact we'll become present in that moment and take the opportunity to observe/feel unspoken currents of communication, ask questions then listen, really listen.

beautiful. I listen to my patients speak their stories and I know there is a parallel unspoken narrative behind what I hear. This video expresses the unspoken truths beautifully. Every day I ask myself, if health care were easily available to all, what would that change?

That's beautiful but would have liked to have heard how staff have changed the way they interact with patients and visitors and how they are actually empathising with them. When everyone is so rushed, do they actually have time to change the way they interact?

This is a rare look at what we should all be thinking about when we think of when seeing others healthcare needs or issues.
Realistically , as a front line worker in community health care...... Governments will never be empathetic towards a patients needs . It is about money and nothing else!!!
We , as a collective group have to change it !
Lobby more and let policy changers know we have had enough !!!!!
Amen

Awesome video. Find more places to share it. This the intire world needs to see. It made me cry. Too many people walk through these things alone as it is. We dont need people not understanding the pain on top of it all. Thank you so very much.

Read Time Magazine, March 11, 2013, about the cost of hospital care: How hospitals base exorbitant charges on a "book"
called the CHARGEMASTER. The profit of these hospitals, both profit and non-profit ,is absolutley obscene. Yet they purse
people who cannot possiblly pay bills of $half a million +.
All Americans should qualify for the best medical care there is at a REASONALBLE COST..

Your sentiment is lovely & all about why we go into health care. But PLEASE don't call patients guests or clients or whatever the newest buzzword is in fashion. They are patients & we are there to help them heal. They are not at an Inn or a law office. I have been an R.N. for 42 years; still love nursing & have seen so many trends come & go & come again. But the semantics of current health care (no one has a problem- we all have "opportunities") makes me want to scream! And scripting by our administration. Give me the credit to know what to say to patients; from my heart.

This video reminds me me that we are are connected and share more than we think. We have more similarities than differences.
It is about all of us not just ourselves. I really enjoyed it and it deeply touched me.

Yes! I work with elderly and many of them are non-speaking, and what I have seen is that some moments they connect and other times they don't seem to be there.So I have worked hard to be kind, loving and respectful of their being. Very easy to assume they are not cognitive and not listening to what is said around them. Try hard to treat as adults with dignity, they are not children. Caregiving is a hard job for many reasons

Cleveland Clinic Hospital, my hospital of Hope. For nearly ten years, Dr. Gary Hoffman and staff at Rhumatology, Vascular and Immunogogy have been caring for me, and now successfully reached the height of my illness to remission.. Each visit my husband and I travel from Indiana to Ohio having no doubt in our mind, trusting in the knowledgable care and compassion of CC doctors and staff. When I first walked through the doors of CC Hospital/Clinic my voice was heard and many, many people heard me … hands that healed touched my shoulder, spoke to me, listened to what I had to say, smiled with me, empathized. Going to Cleveland Cleveland Hospital/Clinic was not about pity, it was about healthy healing with compassionate care. Much thanks and gratification from all my family.

This video is so needed around the world. GOD, being a Sovereign GOD, did not write my life like those i've seen in the video; yet, i complain!......But when i saw this video, GOD brought to me that there are many people who are hurting, scared, worried, in panic with no hope (or very little). i must stop complaining (for i really have nothing to complain about) and pray for my sisters and brothers of this world. i pray for GOD's Mercy and Grace upon all; for GOD's assurance and peace; for GOD's presence and HIS LOVE to come upon them. i pray that we all 'look up' (to GOD) and call HIS NAME and HE will give us HIS peace even when we are going through low valleys and rocky mountains. For it will be GOD, and GOD alone WHO will get us over these rough times! That is my prayer for all. Amen.

Beautiful video.... just what I needed to see as a healing from all the pain and suffering of the Boston Marathon tragedy. To be reminded of our common humanity and the need to look deeper into the face of the suffering and the evil.

I feel sorry for myself andsome of my choices inlife. Seeing this only reafirms what I have always believed, there is always someone who is hurting more than you, or needs a better job, or just needs someone to say I love you. Life is funny, you don't think of this untill you actually see something like this video, or know someone who is ill. God bless and have mercy onall humans. Amen

You never know what impact you make on someones life by random acts of kindness. I feel we should all have empathy we should all go above and beyond.weve all had times of troubles and we should all remember.

It certainly opens up your eyes, and I can thank God for where I'm at today. While we all have some bad patches in our own lives being in a lull at this time is a blessing. Understanding some of the people's misfortune's in this video, is nothing compared to what they themselves are feeling. Thankyou for bringing this to me. KarenK

I'm an architect, so sensitive to building environments. That said, I also expect a hospital to be squeaky clean, efficient, professionally staffed with well-trained personnel and sensitively and fairly managed. I also expect it to be navigable, with minimum resort to the confusing concessions to older construction with respect to floor level changes and other awkward transitions. The "theme" and spirit, or ethos, of the place need to be maintained consistently in all departments and sections of the facility as well. I should mention that I also spent two years as a young man working in an older hospital as an orderly. I recall being told that the reason I was paid so badly was because wages represented the greatest cost of care. My argument then was that medical personnel were the ones providing that care, and should be proportionally remunerated. I still think so.

To walk in someone else's shoe's, hear what they hear, see what they see and i believe most importantly feel what they feel is a true connection with a another human being, not based on thinking rather based on connecting. An amazing paradigm shift from oneself mentally and physically to oneself spiritually and emotionally. It is welcoming to hear that a hospital has taken into consideration a patients wellbeing is not just based on medicinal applications, rather a whole perspective of a person's wellbeing with regards to their environment and I hope that other healthcare providers take this courageous step forward towards the care and wellbeing of a fellow human being. You provide inspiring steps to follow. Thank you

iT'S SO TRUE AND IF ONLY WE COULD HOLD THESE THOUGHTS IN OUR HEARTS EVERYWHERE WE WALK AND HAVE OUR BEING AND PERHAPS MOST OF ALL IN CHURCHES, WHERE FEELINGS GET HURT BECAUSE OF HURTING PEOPLE NOT BEING RECOGNIZED. I HOPE ALL CLINICS AND HOSPITAL STAFFS COULD SEE THIS VIDEO. THANK YOU.

This a very beautiful and emotional video. But it tells the true story of how each of these people feel. Its right in showing how they are feeling and that we need to put ourselves in their shoes. I have been in some of them, and its not pleasant. God Bless them for making this and hoping it gets out to everyone. I, for one, will post it for all my friends and family to watch. Thank you again for making this.

Have you ever heard of the North Hawaii Community Hospital? Earl Bakken, founder of Medtronic, is one of their benefactors and is also a benefactor of The Cleveland Clinic. I encourage you to check out the "67 Things That Make NHCH Not Just Another Hospital" on their site: http://www.nhch.com/cms/View.aspx/Show/UniqueApproachtoHealth , as this hospital surely is in the forefront of healing today. Thank you for your wonderful work!

I love the video ...... I am sure many people watching this can relate in their own life being in many of the same situations and reflecting on the feelings they were going through.... It really makes you stop and think especially when you pass someone in the hospital just what the individual and families are experiencing. This was a lovely reflective film. Thank you.

its a nice video very interesting to know different kind of disease or burdens in their life every one has. we have to be thankful for we are the one taking care of them not that we are in their shoes.

The visual was touching and nicely done. Many of our heathcare workers are compassionate and caring. As a nurse, we are taught to "listen." In my many years of healthcare work I have had the opportunity to see a great deal: from the receptionist who would give a patient her last dollar to go get something to eat/drink, and to a physician willing to "take the time," despite his/her demanding schedule. However, on the other hand, I have seen the receptionist who isn't paying attention to the patient's needs and presents with a unwelcoming attitude - how discouraging for a patient's initial impression of the pending care from this office, or the physician who walks in the patient's room, looks at his papers for the patient's name, identifies him/herself, and asks: "So how are you today? Anything I can do for you?" Smiles and leaves the room. Does he/she even know who I am? Scary.......All institutes training the medical profession should make it a mandatory requirement to watch this brief video, as well as the movie, "The Doctor."

In my 40 years of being an LPN this video shows what I would try and find in each person that I came in contact with. Many times I would tell others do not judge until you have walked in "their shoes". What a great video. Thank you for doing this.

This should be mandatory for all people to see and discuss. Would there be war if there were? It makes me think of a quote I love: "The first step in the evolution of ethics is a sense of solidarity with other human beings." - Albert Schweitzer
Thank you, Cleveland Clinic.

Beautiful piece.
I am in tears, knowing that much of it is how strong my empathy is. I haven't walked in many of those peoples' shoes, but I understand the joy and pain of life.
I try to make every person I meet have a better day, because often, they make my day better. I believe in peer support, for we are all equal to one another and support is so valuable for our survival.

What a refresher for us all to think past our own emotional world.... that person rushing past you might have an unselfish reason for their haste, or that person ahead of you might have something ahead which they are not ready to accept.... hmmm

This is a beautiful video. Living in a society that demands that we always put our best foot forward and be Lions, this video looks at life in a real perspective. It reminds us that we really are just like Turtles, we bring everything we have been, are and will be with us. It's faith , love, compassion and patience that we have and share with each other that gets us through the day. Thank you.

What an awesome concept, we all get so cought up in our own crap thinking we have it so bad and Wa-La things like this wake us from our own pitty party and we see our lives are pretty dang good, thanks for this vidio it helps many of us have ampathy for those who are dealing with life in many differant and worse situations than us. Lets appreciate the other person. Do something good today that can put a smile on anothers face.

I hope others will realize how important it is to think before you speak. Even though you might have had a rough day, treating others with disrespect wont make your day better.I thought about that... once, at my veterans day program, right next to my grandpa,a world war 2 veteran just sat and cried the whole time.poor Guy. Even though I dident even know him, I gave him a hug. Everyone should watch this. You just might learn something about having compassion. I know I did. I thought about what he saw,heard, and felt,and I cried too.one word. Compassion.and all this coming from a ten year old!

It's about time that someone is thinking about how healing and environment fit together. Yea for Cleveland Clinic! I am a chiropractor and homeopath - in my own clinic, I thought about the patient experience when they are here. I have incorporated beauty and simplicity in my clinic: subdued lighting, homey atmosphere, handmade beautiful art. My patients appreciate it and they feel comfortable in the space.

A powerful tool for all of us in healthcare, to enable us to "see" others in their everyday world and the personal human crises going on as well as the exhaustion of a physical condition and treatment or diagnosis.

Health care workers, including doctors, are now forced by management to see more patients in a shorter amount of time. This makes them feel guilty and stressed. CEOs and management receive more pay than ever but they aren't the people who see patients in a medical facility or in their homes. I retired from health care after 18 years and loved the work but I could see what this was doing to the morale and temperament of staff and patients. The bottom line is important but this dire situation needs to be examined. Everyone needs more time.

Different kind of people with a different kind of problem,life style, ideas, work,sickness, family, love life, religion, & last but not list death time ! So while we are alive give thanks & have that gratitude to our creature Almighty God JEHOVAH & His Begotten Son Jesus Christ to gain Life Everlasting in a Paradise earth as in Matthew 6:10 Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.

Last Friday I was admitted to ER for a day. I totally understand the feelings of everyone in the video. I appreciate very much every medical personnel working in the hospital. They were friendly, helpful, and caring. It is not easy for them to work through their workdays with people who are in pain, unhappy, and cranky. We, as patients, do not need to add to their stress by complaining or yelling at them for our pain and uncomfortableness. I thank all medical personnel for choosing the medical field and taking care of us.

I love the show, On Being. It always give me hope and rejuvenates my soul. I just watched the Empathy video which a friend passed on for reflection. Empathy is so important in our lives. It makes us more human, kinder, more loving. Thank you.

I'm glad they're paying attention to people, not just sterile places. But both are necessary in hospitals and other health places. International Women's Day is March 8. That's Cindy wang's birthday. She's now an opthalmologist in Boston and the mother of four children. Of course, she has full time help. So you remember the Wangs? They had lived on Orchard Grove. He had taught at RPI and left to teach at Oklahoma U in Norman, Oklahoma.
A friend here goes to the Cleveland Clinic. IT's not so far from Pittsburgh.

As a 4th year medical student, this feels like one of the most important pieces of education material I've ever seen. I'll be sure to share it with my colleagues in medicine....and in every other part of my life. From a deep place of gratitude, thank you.

Enjoyed the Video and How very True! Everyone we meet is fighting some kind of battle, we just don't always know what it is. Be kind and continue to strive for Treating others the Way you want to be Treated....The way the Good Book teaches us to do!

So good to learn that the science of healing space is gaining interest and credence. I've benefitted from it first-hand. As a patient of the Frauenshuh Cancer Center at Methodist Hospital (St. Louis Park MN), I commend it as a wonderful example of such a place.

Just recently i was thinking that people in hospitals or other such stressful occupations ought to have a rotation of some sort which allows them to change duties from time to time. Nurses and police officers have to deal with so much of other peoples' stress on top of their own that it is simply unrealistic to expect them to be capable of doing their jobs consistently well with a balanced attitude. It is too much to ask of people. Could there be certain shifts of 3 hours of just filing and no personal contact? Or rotating in with other hospital duties such as the easier, more pleasant ones of filling out the paperwork as new mothers leave the hospital? I'm sure it would be difficult to implement and that each hospital is different. But I envision a time when certain occupations will pair with certain schools- perhaps a center for massage has students who need practical experience for their certification. Who better to practice on than EMT personnel or others who really, physically and mentally need and deserve a massage? This idea and others- why not build kindergarten playgrounds next to nursing homes so the elderly can watch the children play? They could pass flowers through the fence. The children would have more eyes looking out for them and the elderly could benefit from seeing the movement.
A list of all the duties necessary to any hospital organized in terms of stress and pleasure. Aside from the specific duties which require specialized training, there are so any other things that happen in a hospital on a daily basis and everyone suffers from doing the exact same thing day in and day out. It could be on a by request basis. You get to a point where you ca't take it and need a break. So you log on to the live, interactive hospital site which lists what needs done where and when. Somehow it could work.
Empathy must extend to everyone- this is why you put your own oxygen mask on before helping others in the event of an airplane emergency. We're no good to others if we can't even breathe.
This video is wonderful. We need more of this type of teaching in our world. Thank you.

The complexity of human life, can it be fully understand? The human ability to empathize is what I call the God particle! This is in the DNA of all human beings because humans are "created in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27).The human ability to love and empathize are evidences of the God particle."And of some have compassion, making a difference"(Jude 22). This is when you "rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with them that weep" ( Romans 12:15). The God particle is not always demonstrated because some people are evil to the core and are unable to empathize and be compassionate. But thank God, there are more people who can empathize and have compassion that those unable to empathize and have compassion.

I have been in many hospitals over 88yea, in different states and locations. I have the skill and compassion of many good Doctors and nurses for my survival and long life.I am now in a nursing home with excellent care. No one knows how hard these Medical personnel work over many years. I am grateful for them. You just don't know unless you have been there.
God Bless them